You will be given time to assemble your own team of 4 specialists to undergo this opportunity.
Once your team is assembled, you will need to figure out who will take what role on the team. The roles are entomologist, earth scientist, ecologist, and chemist.
Once your role is selected you will each then begin your own investigation into figuring out what is the best way to combat the tiny insect pests.
Each specialist will need to research the following areas for their designed field. Some resources will be provided but will not contain all the information needed to successfully analyze your data. It is more designed to point you in the right direction.
Basic Information
The standard size of the soybean fields in the area are about 12 acres.
The main problems arise between the summer to the fall months.
The fields in question are apart of the ecosystem of a typical central Illinois farming community and contains the standard weather patterns typical of its location.
Items of interest that need to be researched are: Habitat, Origin, Host plants, Parthenogenesis, Life cycle, Scientific Name, insect history, possible predators, and the damage they cause to the soil bean fields. An additional 2 other items need to be researched as well. Some suggestions are items involving evolution, migration, or diseases. Will report to the ecologist to help evaluate the damage caused by the insects.
Items of interest that need to be researched are: Biological Control, Population Dynamics, Climate Change, Augmentation, Conservation, Inundation, Regulatory Control, Breed Host Resistance, Sterile Technique, and working with the other members to see how the ecosystem would be affected. An additional 2 other items will need to be researched as well. It could be another way of control or an analysis of a paper that demonstrated the effectiveness of on of the controls.
Items of interest that need to be research are: General Insecticides, Specific Aphid Insecticides, Insect Pheromones, Inorganic and organic insecticides, insect growth regulators and biological insecticides. An additional 2 other items will need to be research as well. It could be an analysis of a research paper or conduct a mini-experiment that showed how effective insecticides. Some other suggestions are research on DDT, BT toxin, Feeding deterrents or any other chemical products that you may find.
Items of interest that need to be research are: Cultural Techniques, Plant rotation, sanitation/tillage of plants, Irrigation/draining of the fields, Planting dates, Trap Crop, Pruning, Stored products, typical harvesting weather, the overall climate and work with the ecologist to help find out what impact these techniques have on the ecosystem and soil of the fields. An additional 2 other items will need to be researched. Some suggestions would be to find research papers on the effectiveness of some techniques and analyze them or conduct a mini experiment to see the results.
5. After you have conducted your research/experiments, you will need to collect your data and information and analyze it, and create a research paper giving the details of what you found out. Each student will write a 2-3 page paper and then combine the four sections to create an overall 8-12 page paper.
6. You will then construct your proposal as to what idea/method you consider to be the best to help control and eventually eliminate the infestation problem. This would be classified as a rationale and will be between 1-2 pages in length and will be added to the end of your research paper.
7. Finally, you will have to present your findings to a local community board of trustees that is persuasive enough for them to accept your method of elimination.
8. For more specifics on the guidelines and what each individual has to make sure to include check with the rubric underneath the evaluation link on the left side.
Process
Basic Information
Entomologist
Ecologist
Chemist
- Insecticides 1
- Organic Insecticides
- Pheromones 1
- Pheromones 2
- Items of interest that need to be research are: General Insecticides, Specific Aphid Insecticides, Insect Pheromones, Inorganic and organic insecticides, insect growth regulators and biological insecticides. An additional 2 other items will need to be research as well. It could be an analysis of a research paper or conduct a mini-experiment that showed how effective insecticides. Some other suggestions are research on DDT, BT toxin, Feeding deterrents or any other chemical products that you may find.
Earth Scientist5. After you have conducted your research/experiments, you will need to collect your data and information and analyze it, and create a research paper giving the details of what you found out. Each student will write a 2-3 page paper and then combine the four sections to create an overall 8-12 page paper.
6. You will then construct your proposal as to what idea/method you consider to be the best to help control and eventually eliminate the infestation problem. This would be classified as a rationale and will be between 1-2 pages in length and will be added to the end of your research paper.
7. Finally, you will have to present your findings to a local community board of trustees that is persuasive enough for them to accept your method of elimination.
8. For more specifics on the guidelines and what each individual has to make sure to include check with the rubric underneath the evaluation link on the left side.